St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-03-06

against his sides. BY stretching his legs
out in front and alternately bending them
at the knees so as to bring the
heels back toward the thighs,
he draws himself along feet first quite rap
idly. The action somewhat resembles
walking. In all the fancy strokes and
tricks, ease and grace are the main points,
and these come from long experience and
perfect familiarity with the water. No
violent movements are necessary to perform
what appear to be the most difficult feats.
The specific gravity OF the human body is
about One-tenth less than that of sea water
and it will float without any assistance or
motion. TO change position it is only
necessary to shift the center of gravity by
moving limb or bending the body. A
swimmer goes up or down, SwerveS this way
and that, turns somerSaults and tlip-flapS
Oh the principle of hawks soaring in the
air. Fat men are the best fioaters, and
in still water some Of them can lie
upon their backs and 90 to sleep
without danger. but for fast swimming
one wants muscle and wind and no fat.
Bulk retards swimmer. The swimmer
should learn to dive gracefully if he wants
to be considered proficient in the art. Let
him stand almost erect, body slightly in
clined forward. holding his arms stretched
out before him with palms down. fingers
close together and thumbs touching. With
slight spring he projects himself forward.
throws his head downward and feet up and
enters the water al slight angle from the
perpendicular, the hands and arms cleaving
the way and protecting the head. Always
keep the eyes open under water, and don't
wink. Winking Injuries the eyeballs. By
turning the head upward and spreading
the palms of the hands the diver can come
in curve to the surface. or by
keeping the head down and kicking he can
continue his descent. He wants good sup
ply Of air inside when he makes the dive,
as he may have to stay down for while.
Diving is very useful and sometimes profit
able, as L found when was one of the
crew of the yacht AmbasSadreSS. John
Jacob Astor liked the fun so we'll that he
sometimes tossed ive-dollar gold pieces
overheard for me to dive after. By pre-
tending that | couldn't see them on the
bottom | once induced him to toss four
over and then brought them all up at once
in my mouth. Mr.. Astor never took back
anything that he jettisoned. and so 1 was
well paid for four dives to the bottom of
Newport harbor. A pretty and puzzlng
blowing the smoke up through the water to
the surface, where it arrives in milk white
bubbles. When the bubbles break the smoke
ascends in little clouds and puffs. or some
times floats almost OH the water for a few
minutes. The trick is seen to best advant-
age in the swimming tank and always takes
at the club exhibitions. 1t seems very
strange to see man go under water with a
lighted cigar in his mouth, smoke calmly
at the bottom and come to the surface with
the cigar burning as nicely as if he were
smoking i'll his easy chair. Appar-
emily he defes all natural laws but of
course he doesn't. 1t is simple trick, but
it requires practice. Just as throw my
self backward to go down, flip the cigar
end for end with my tongue and upper lip
and get the lighted end in my mouth. clos
ing my lips water tight around it. A little
slippery elm juice gargled before going in
prevents any accidental burning of the
mouth. Going slowly down backwards.
lie at full length on the
bottom of the tank and blow smoke through